Divide et impera

But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men? For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely men?

-1 Corinthians 3; 1-4

Recently I ran across a traditionalist blogger who, like I, has been thinking of the divisiveness within the Body of Christ these days. Here is his finding:

Left wing, right wing, progressive, conservative… and on and on it goes. Sure, these are largely political terms, but we use them to refer to one another in the Church, and for the most part, all of us have a pretty good idea of what they mean. Heck, we even use them to refer to ourselves sometimes.

At any rate, I’ve been thinking about this “ideological-theological spectrum” lately, and I put together the graphic below. (I have to admit, I amused the daylights out of myself in the process.)

Now, it’s far from perfect. There’s definitely some cross-over between the categories and the various elements placed in each one, but it’s a pretty good start.

Division within Christ’s Church is a clear attack by the evil one. Satan’s strategy here is the time-honored one of divide et impera - divide and conquer. Remember, too, Jesus ’ words to the Pharisees: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.” Quite simply, no ideology, no matter how sincerely embraced, may substitute for personal conversion. One may not be whacko liberal or radical traditionalist on the Apostles Creed.

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